The Big Foul Penis in the Botany world/植物界中又大又臭的”陰莖”

For Chinese version, please scroll down/ 中文版請見文末

No, again just the title, no penis, but only a plant that got named cause it looks like one, or that botanist got a dirty mind.

I came across this piece of news about 3 corpse flowers are preparing to bloom at the United States Botanic Garden. I am not a botanist but I am always fascinated by how nature has shaped different plants and evolved them into some very special forms so that they can occupy a particular niche.

The corpse flower

Corpse flowers scientific name is Amorphophallus titanium (Greeks meaning: Amorpho – no form, phallus – penis, titanium – giant) ok let’s not try to pool the words together to make a fuss of out it, haha. But those old school naming are so much more romantic compared to the nowadays naming of a new species. Maybe I will talk about some interesting naming in science later. This plant was native to Indonesia and in Indonesian, they are called the bunga bangkai – flower and corpse. This also made it a popular plant used in fictional stories and manga, for its smell and corpse related naming~

Corpse like signatures for pollination

This plant can grow over 2 meters tall but it’s signature is for its corpse like smell during it blooming time to attract Dung beetles and flesh flies (that usually lay eggs on rotting flesh), and trick them to help the plant pollinate. And to make everything more efficient, the inflorescence can also generate heat to around 37 °C to mimic that of a warm blood animals and help enhance the spread of the stinky odor. Some even says the burgundy color of the flowers also mimic the color of dead animal flesh. (Evolution is really amazing isn’t it)

Chemicals for the smelly nature

The smell from the plant is largely contributed from chemicals that the plant produces, including:

• Dimethyl Trisulphide, smell of it is similar to that of cooked/ rot onions, and some cheese.
• Dimethyl Disulphide, smell of it is similar to that of garlic
• Trimethylamine, smell of it is similar to that of rotting fish
• Isovaleric acid, smell of it is similar to that of sweaty smelly sock

Who said all flowers smells good when they blossoms?? Nature allocates everyone to a role to play and help each to interact with one and other to form the ecosystem.

Another thing about the plant’s blooming is that they usually bloom once every few years, and that why it become interesting for people to witness those “rare” occasions. Live stream link is also available for the ones in the United States Botanic Garden, they are expected to bloom from 20-23 Aug-2017!!!

Food from relatives

Another plant from the Amorphophallus genus that are more relevant to us are the Amorphophallus konjac, which the corm of it is use to make the food konjac!! I hope next time when you are eating the konjac, it won’t reminds you that you are eating a plant with its relative that will become a giant smelly _____ when it blooms.

不，再次只是標題黨，沒有陰莖，但只有一個被命名的植物看起來像一條，或那個植物學家有一個骯髒的頭腦。

我偶而看到這樣的消息，有關3朵屍花正準備在美國植物園開花。我不是一個植物學家，但我總是著迷於大自然如何塑造不同的植物，並將它們演變成一些以非常特殊的形式，以便它們可以佔據特定的生態棲位。

屍花

屍花的科學名稱是 Amorphophallus titanum（希臘語意思：Amorpho - 沒有形式，phallus - 陰莖，titanum - 巨人）好吧，我們不要試圖集合這些字來拼湊出什麼來，哈哈。但是，與現在的新物種命名相比，這些舊派命名更加浪漫。也許我稍後會談談一些有趣的科學命名。這種植物是印度尼西亞的本土物種，印度尼西亞人稱之為bunga bangkai - 花和屍體。這也使它成為一個流行於虛構的故事和漫畫的植物， 因為它的氣味和屍體相關的命名吧〜

屍體一般的標記

這種植物可以生長超過2米高，但它的標誌是它像屍體一㨾的臭味，去吸引一些糞甲蟲和食肉蠅（通常在腐爛的肉上產卵），並誘騙他們來幫助植物授粉。為了使一切更有效率，花序也可以 產生接近37°C度的熱量，以模仿溫血動物，並有助於增強臭氣的蔓延。有些人甚至說，花朵的勃艮第色也為模仿了死亡的動物肉的顏色。 （自然進化真的很神奇!!）

化學的臭味

植物的臭味主要來自植物生產的化學物質，包括：

• 二甲基三硫化物，其味道與熟/腐洋蔥類似，還有某奶酪。
• 二甲基二硫化物，其味道與大蒜相似
• 三甲胺，其味道與腐爛魚相似
• 異戊酸，其味道與汗濕的襪子相似

誰說所有的花都聞起來都很好？自然分配每個人扮演一個角色，並幫助每個人與其他人進行互動，形成生態系統。

植物盛開的另一件事是，它們通常每幾年綻放一次，所以吸引人們看到這些“罕見”的場合。 Live Stream 鏈接也可看到在美國植物園那3朵正準備開花的屍花，預計將於2017年8月20-23日開花！

相關的食物

與我們更相關的 Amorphophallus 屬的另一種植物是 Amorphophallus konjac，它的球莖用於製作蒟蒻食物！我希望下次當你吃蒟蒻時，它不會令你想到，你正在吃一種植物，其親屬是一種在開花時變成一個又巨大又臭的_____。

Source:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150930-stinky-corpse-flower-chicago-botanic-garden-blooms/
https://www.livescience.com/51947-corpse-flower-facts-about-the-smelly-plant.html
https://www.usbg.gov/three-corpse-flower-blooms-usbg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphophallus_titanum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konjac

Photo source:
https://www.usbg.gov/sites/default/files/images/corpse_flower_-_auguest_3_2016. jpg
pixabay.com

---

如果你喜歡我的帖子，請upvote並關注我 @biuiam
If you like my posts, please upvote and follow me @biuiam
Cheers~

---

SteemSTEM
其次，請考慮支持@steemstem項目。 SteemSTEM是一個社區驅動的項目，目的是促進Steemit的寫作/信息科學技術工程和數學發表。該項目不僅通過upvote和resteem STEM帖子，而且還將STEEM Power作為獎勵重新分配給Steemit不斷在科學/技術成長的社區成員。

要了解有關該項目的更多信息，請加入我們的steemit.chat（https://steemit.chat/channel/steemSTEM)， 我們一直在尋找幫跟我們理念相同 -- 追求提高STEM（和健康）帖子質量的人，在我們不斷增長的平台上發帖，所以我們很樂意聽到你的聲音！

最後可以考慮加入 @steemstem 投票軌跡，該項目賬戶只能對STEM相關帖子進行投票，因此作為投票軌跡的一部分，您可以選擇性地在我們不斷增長的科技社區在平台上受益。我們亦非常感謝你的支持。